ROSETTA Ristorante

8 Whiteman St, Southbank

Visited: 12th February 2014

Design: Clean, confident, elegant and balanced are just some of the terms that came to me as I approached this door. Surrounded by slate tiles and a white marble pillared door trim, although I can't bring myself to call it a trim. It's more than that. I feel like all the proportions are wrong when I look at this door. With the brush steel panel at the base and nothing at the top makes the handle look as though it is too low and yet to use this door everything is perfect and where it should be. Black, heavy steel framing for the glass panels make it look light as though it would just float open on the push. However, this beast had weight, (like trying to move the Rosetta Stone) and a presence. The resistance was hard, one of the hardest yet and yet smooth enough to almost defy gravity. I loved the mirrored effect on the back wall as you enter creating a depth. The two spot lamps at the base provided a nice reflection on the steel panel and the simple steel door stopper off to the right in the marble floor was a simple and effective feature that didn't upset the design. The copper against the white marble and the black steel is to die for. This is what happens when exquisite sophistication and refined craftsmanship marry. 

  

Door resistance: 5

Closure mechanism: Hydraulic arm

Draft: Minimal

Squeak level: 0

Change return time: 32 sec

Now, I don't normally include two images for a door but this magnificent door handle deserved a photo of its own. Hats off to the makers of this fine piece. Copper plated and a beautiful etched lace work that looked as though it had been done by hand or even engraved around the border of the handle. Just like the Rosetta satellite breaking new ground as it will touch down on 67P/Churyumov - Gerasimenko to study its surface and composition to give us insight into how the earth was created, so to does this sensual piece of design. I have never come across a door handle like this in my life, as the Rosetta will touch down on the comet my hand was guided in to its highly polished surface. My palm resting gently in its deep concave as my fingers grasped the ridge and went over to rest flat on the curved back for the pull out. You can come at this handle from any direction and grasp it however you want. I felt important just touching it. Just as the satellite and the stone have and will reveal answers to many of life's mysteries, this door has answered many questions for me like, what give a door the ability to make it an experience to open and how can design affect the human spirit?

HERE IS THE PROOF. TRY IT AND YOU WILL FIND THE ANSWERS.

EAST ELEVATION

351 Lygon St, Brunswick East

Visited: 11th February 2014

Design:  I have been lucky I have just had the chance to visit 3 amazing doors, this being the first, (others will follow in posts to come). I have driven past this door a number of times and it has caught my eye. I have always wondered what was behind it. Then this morning I decided to go to East Elevation not knowing where it was and discovered when I arrived this amazing door belonged to them. What can I say, this would have to be one of the most impressive entrances to a cafe, ever. With a massive slab of raw concrete forming the front wall and an impressive window opening onto the street, your eye is led to the beautiful natural stained timber, (could be black butt) that towers over and surrounds that incredible red wooden door. The combination of these three elements together is harmony to the eye. The grey, the browns and the red...........WOW! It almost feels like you are entering a modern version of the Amer Fort in Jaipur, India. There is something very medieval about the grandeur and overwhelming size of this door that blows me away. There is a harsh beauty to its simplicity and yet the red door has a rustic charm to it, like an old country farm house or an Armish barn. A dream to open and a manual close. All I can say is incredible, incredible, incredible.

Door resistance: 1.5

Closure mechanism: Manual

Draft: Minimal

Squeak level: 0

Change return time: 1.11 sec

Thai Tiki Hut

571 High St, Northcote

Visited: 7th February 2014

Design: Is it possible to feel like you are in Thailand without even leaving Melbourne? That's the feeling you get when you enter the door of Thai Tiki Hut. I have got to give it to these guys for creativity in order to make a very boring door exciting. I mean, what do you do with a square aluminium gold framed, four glass panel door with vertical louvers above it? You create a 1960's representation Thai-style lounge room in the window beside it, complete with chair, tv, lamps, vintage posters, coffee table and screens. Then above that you put a collection of number plates and create the number of your business out of thick bamboo. Then, the view to the interior you are blessed with a row of these amazing Thai styled eating booths that look like village huts. Sooo good!!

ฉันต้องการอาหารมื้อค่ำ

Door resistance: 2

Closure mechanism: Hydraulic arm

Draft: Minimal

Squeak level: 0

Change return time: 1.32 sec

BROTHER ALEC

719 High St, Thornbury

Visited: 2nd February 2014

Design: When you start covering things in chrome they look sexy. Whoever came up with the idea of covering all the window panels and the panels of a very standard door with chrome, brilliant!!! I take my hat off to you. The panels alongside the black tiles, stenciled numbering and cafe name works amazingly well. The contrast between the different materials is surprisingly good.  It's like taking a horse and carriage, covering it chrome and all of a sudden these cowboys have just stepped out of Battlestar Galatica, (not the new one). It's clean, (even though it's a little beaten around) it's slick and it catches the eye. Even though the job is a little rough it almost gives references to Art Deco. The beautiful old chrome handle helps this and is a delight in the hand with its thin grip. The bold stenciled lettering is so nice. The light gray, pastel yellow and dark brown hexagon tiles work well against the cement and the light gray welcome mat with a cursive HELLO to greet you. I absolutely love the rusted vintage chain OPEN/CLOSE sign in various fonts that gives a little jingle as you open the door. The door has a squeak that feels like a favourite old corner store door, so nice to the ears. Simple trading hours keeping in the theme of stencil done on brown paper. You can't get better. The door is clean and uncluttered with a central positioning of signage. Even the Good Food guide stickers which I normally hate aren't noticeable and are pushed off to the side with some new arrival baby photos and the menu. The door had a nice slow return. There was a slight warp in the door, I guess from over the years of being exposed to the weather, so there was a slight gap. I'm not sure what that would be like with a draft in winter, but minor issue. The diagonal window and the triangle panel pillar next to the door added just another level of unique goodness.  

Door resistance: 2

Closure mechanism: Hydraulic arm

Draft: Medium

Squeak level: 3

Change return time: 48 sec

MIDDLE FISH
122-128 Berkeley St, Carlton

Visited: 30th January 2014

Design: I felt like I was entering an underwater cave coming through this doorway. You are enticed in by the rustic recycled white timbers, the retro plants, and the dark cavernous hole of the large interior inside. The combination of the white walls on the exterior, the roller door and the timber work well together. Once in the doorway you go through more treated pine that looks as though it has had a green wash put over it. The recessed door adds to the mystery surrounding the entry. Specials are displayed on the actual wooden door made from ply and welded steel. Every time I have visited this place one of the two doors have been open so I haven't had the chance to physically use this door to asses its workings. I can say from the interior looking back on the entry, the wooden box of the exterior folds back in on itself. Solid, robust, bunker-like you feel secure behind this construction, like nothing could penetrate its structure.   

Door resistance: ?

Closure mechanism: Manual

Draft: Maximum

Squeak level: ?

Change return time: 31 sec

THE OLD FIRE STATION - CAFE/GALLERY
378 High St, Preston

Visited: 28th January 2014

Design: There is nothing better than a door with a bit of age to walk through. Everything feels good about it. The sounds it makes, the feeling in the hand, the chipped paint and the worn marks from years of traffic, all come together to create a comforting experience. This was one of those doors. The bright red paint job felt like you were stepping into a fire station or an old London phone box. The multiple square glass panels gave it an almost English village pub feel alongside the red brick. I loved the old steel curved handle and the brass rectangular plating for the palm to push against. It did feel a bit cluttered with too many stickers and way too many blackboards telling you they were open. There was a beautiful rustic element to it though with the worn paint. Surrounded by what feels like half finished pillars, I think if they had taken them to the ground it would have made the door sit more solidly in the wall. There was a great squeak to it on the open that can only come form years of use and exposure to the elements. All in all, a wonderful experience.

Door resistance: 2

Closure mechanism: Hydraulic arm

Draft: Medium

Squeak level: 2

Change return time: 2.10 sec

PANACHE CAFE & CREPERIE

68 Hesse St, Queenscliff

Visited: 25th January 2014

Design: There are times when you walk through a space and you instantly feel transported back to another time period. The entry to Panache created intrigue and wonder. I was a kid entering a lolly shop, I was a teenager entering a country takeaway. 

  There was so much going on in this entrance, such as the naive hand painted specials on the blue pool tiles, the mosaic black and white checkered floor (and some random patch up jobs with multi-coloured tiles), lead light windows around the ceiling panel, the vinyl lettering and the plastic strips to keep the flies and heat out. All of this combine with the 4 socket power board hanging randomly from the roof and plugged into nothing. For some reason in this setting, in this little town and it being a creperie shop, it somehow all worked perfectly to create a sense of nostalgia. I miss the plastic stripping of corner stores and fish and chip shops. Coming through the plastic stripping creates a grand entrance as you divide the strips like Mosses. They create the feeling of short lived royalty as you enter and everyone inside waiting for their meals turns to see who has come through the door then goes back to their trash mags. The sound of the plastic slapping together as they part and come back to their original position and their snaking motion as a sea breeze flows across them, fills me with many holiday memories. Such a simple design and yet so effective.

  The door itself was a beautiful old white solid timber frame with a modest window at the top. The handle was the classic round stainless steel ball design with the push button lock on the back that always feels lovely in the hand. I could caress those all day. Let's not go there. You know the ones? You get them all the time on laundry doors in duplexes or townhouses. To add to the cliched smorgasbord there was even the, "YES WE ARE OPEN" sign hanging in the window. The one thing that really topped it all off was the sign in the front window, a before and after promise. Before, being an image of a reasonably unattractive, bucktoothed, balding character, then after you have one of PANACHES coffee's you will look like George Clooney. 

BIG CALL!

Door resistance: 1

Closure mechanism: Manual

Draft: Medium

Squeak level: 2

Change return time: 10 sec